I liken this year to a realization, by
that I mean like Bob Dylan said, “Times are ah changing.” We must realize
we are also. The realization I’m talking about, is an understanding that
together, in unity; we can accomplish anything through Christ who
strengthens us. As we journeyed through 2017 the realization that became
obvious was that we needed to do something and that doing something is
better than doing nothing. This was in regards to unifying our church and
giving it hope. We’d seemed to be like fish out of water.

This happened with our attendance and
decline in committees. It was evident that there were some frightened from
all those we’d lost in the past two years through the funerals conducted.
The decline of our congregation concerned many. Remember last year in the
2016 annual report I quoted Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be
strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, do not be dismayed, for the
LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 In 2016 I
emphasized be courageous and we were for 2017. Our church pulled together,
It was the greatest I’d ever seen everyone work together. I’m going to give
a synopsis of that last five years to show the Holy Spirit has not left us
as It gave us courage to be who we are.

In 2015’s report we had a lot of miracles
unfold in front of us through the year. The emphasis on growing our souls,
prayer and a trustful faith through promises were given us in Jesus. It was
evident. There were five dysfunctions preached on that enabled us to
understand what we needed not do; observing the miracles God gifted us as He
journeyed with us.

In looking over the 2014 report we had
worked together and displayed a caring heart to one another and those we
helped. I emphasized we had partnered together for the past
three-and-a-half years and how sure we all were the Holy Spirit was teaching
us the Lord’s grace.

In 2013 I emphasized the exciting time it
was for ample opportunity. We were disciplined and wanted a more
family-oriented demeanor in our congregation even with the naughty row
evolving in the choir. I spoke of a strong demeanor of growing our church
and displayed how the committees were displaying the desire to grow. We had
good teams and they were working hard. Just as we still do today.

2012 was a year we had experienced growth
spurts and I attributed it to the winds of the Holy Spirit and the
congregation’s heart. We witnessed the will of God in our children and our
spirituality began to flourish. Remember Jesus said, “Unless you become like
these children you won’t inherit the Kingdom.”

My synopsis of the last five years of
ministry with Van Wert First Presbyterian seemed safe and secure, but in
essence 2017 was a year of realization for us all. I had conducted funerals
for a lot of our solid pillars in the congregation and that frightened our
church. In as much as the Lord took His own back home, they are still very
much missed and we can see it in our worship and church life. But as
fortune would have it our Lord blessed us with an understanding, and the
greatest decision of 2017 to contract with The Armstrong Group - TAG. With
our heart-felt desire to unlock the doors that will present themselves in
2018, I pray we will work to benefit God’s church that our Father in Heaven
has given us to run, and make it flourish with new families and many
children. It is something we can achieve. Let the past five years be the
learning spectrum we now can look into to receive the newness our Lord has
planned for us. Open your hearts with the humility of Christ and let us
make the transition from the realization that we wish to help our Lord
unfold the newness he is ready to give us. May the strides we made in the
past reflect our faithfulness, that is still unfolding in us all, to open
the gifts that will be bestowed in 2018.

In our God’s Newness and Loving Embrace,

Rev. Hal Shafer

2017 SESSION

Class of 2017 - Christine Heizman, Seth
Baker, Bill Knoll

Class of 2018 - Mary Deitsch, Lynn
Warren

Class of 2019 - Pam Purmort, Felicia
Quaintance

The Session met at 11 regular meetings in
2017, not meeting in the month of July. The Session met for a joint meeting
with the personnel committee on October 3, 2017. Session met in a special
meeting on 10/7/2017, 10/17/2017. There was a congregational meeting on
4/2/2017 to approve the Annual Reports.

Session members open each meeting with
prayer and a devotional to be discussed. The devotionals are geared to have
members discuss how to be good leaders through faith.

Reports are from the committees and
session members are submitted prior to the meetings so that a packet of
information can be put together and reviewed prior to the meetings. If there
are no matters to be brought before the session or that need a motion, then
session moves on to the next report. This assists in keeping the meetings
at a reasonable time limit.

Session has worked this year with the
Trustees and Budget to get our per capita issue of payment taken care.
There has been an issue with this in the past and we are working to resolve
this in the future.

Session accepted the Elder resignations
of Mary Dietsch, Lynn Warren, and Felicia Quaintance Jones during 2017.
Each member is truly missed on the board.

Session accepted the resignation of our
CCE Director Felicia Quaintance Jones on 10/7/2017. The position was not
refilled at this time due to wanting to visualize what that position should
entail in the church. Personnel is working to redesign the job description
and plans to hire a full-time person in the future.

Session through many months of discussion
made the recommendation to hire TAG Consulting to work with us to develop a
vision and begin building the young families and youth programs. After much
discussion it was felt that as a Session we did not have the expertise or
time to lead the church in this process. A contract was signed on 11/15/17
with TAG to begin the process in January.

Session members have served as liturgist,
committee representatives, and communion servers throughout the year.

The Session is grateful to all those who
volunteer their time to serve the church by the giving of their talents and
service to our community.

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Heizman, Clerk of Session.

2017 PERSONNEL

Members of Personnel Committee:

Dianna Early,
Chairperson John Purmort

Pam
Purmort Becky Runser

The Personnel Committee is responsible
for the oversight of the paid staff of the church; to give the Session an
organized and efficient way of fulfilling its responsibilities to and for
all church employees; to provide support, counsel and evaluation for the
staff.

This year was an unusual year for
Personnel as the resignations of Choir Director, Office Manager and Children
Program Director were accepted. Times have certainly changed over the years
as to how an employer advertises for a prospective employee and how
prospective employees seek employment.

The committee advertised the Choir
Director position in four local news publications, which is very costly.
This is the reason that the line item for advertising was (see
e-mail version)over budget. Positions were advertised
through social media and other web sites. Thankfully, through word of mouth
the committee received several resumes for the Choir Director position.
Cheryl Gigler was hired at the end of August.

Donna Long resigned in July due to her
family moving back to Kentucky. Annette Knick began in mid-August.
Wouldn’t you know it, but the computer in the office decided to give up the
ghost her first week. Even after three long weeks of computer issues at
first Annette continues to fill the position of Office Manager.

The position of Children Program Director
is unfilled currently due to coming changes in that position. The Personnel
Committee and Session are in the process of revising the position and job
description.

All annual employee reviews were
completed the last week of August and the first week of September. The
90-day reviews for Annette Krick and Cheryl Gigler were completed in late
fall.

Our church and congregation are truly
blessed to have dedicated staff members, who work well together and fulfill
their employment obligations with heart felt love for our Lord.

The Personnel 2018 budget has a slight
increase of (see e-mail version) compared
to the 2017 budget. The increase is for the line item for pulpit supply; an
increase in the line item for relief organist; an increase to line item for
relief secretary and an average increase of 3% to four employees.

I would like to thank the committee
members for their service as it has been a pleasure working with them.

Respectfully submitted,

Dianna Early

2017 STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE

This past year the committee spent a lot
of time deciphering the “book” in the office that contains all church
information since inception. The book includes all members past and
present, all pastors, marriages, baptisms and deaths/funerals.

Throughout the years, several hands have
touched the book and it is a bit confusing. Our goal is by end of year
2018, to have this book brought up to date. This will give us a true
membership total and allow us to preserve our old records as well as keeping
the new ones on track.

Much of this work including past trends
and decline/increase in membership will help us considerably as we move
forward with TAG Consulting to grow our church and explore new programs
aimed at key demographics.

Below are the year 2017 statistics:

New Membership: 0

Marriages: 0

Baptisms: 1 (Calen James
Profit)

Funerals: 11 (8 members, 3
*non-members)

Joan Eggerss Wilkinson 1/30/2017

Barb Pressar 2/9/2017

*Louise Perry 2/16/2017

Elmer Adams 2/17/2017

Patricia Sue Eleyet 3/27/2017

Joseph Eachus 5/19/2017

Wayne Warren 5/20/2017

*Walter Kuhlhorst 6/14/2017

*Helen Dotson 9/1/2017

Alfred Vandersommen 9/23/2017

Benjamin Harris 12/4/2017

Pledging was down considerably for the
upcoming year 2018. I am including a 3 year look-back as a reference.

2018 Pledges

(see
e-mail version)

2017 Pledges

(see
e-mail version)

2016 Pledges

(see
e-mail version)

Please keep Session and all committee
members in your prayers this year as we move forward with new programs for
growth opportunities. I look forward to serving the Lord and all my fellow
congregation members this upcoming year 2018 in a Session and Stewardship
role. Thank you all for your support and assistance as needed!

Respectfully submitted and in Christ’s
work,

Billy Knoll

Board of Session member and Chair of
Stewardship Committee

2017 BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Members: Position:

Wayne Warren President Trustees,
Cmte Ex-Officio

Robert Exline Vice Pres.
Trustees, Memorial Cmte Chair, Budget Cmte

Leslie Wilkin Secretary
Trustees, Voucher Audit, Budget Cmte

Terry Dietsch
House Cmte Chair

Randy Baer House Committee

Chad Crosby Fell
Fund Member

Activities:

Board representatives served, Memorial
Endowment Fund, Fell Fund, Nominating, Personnel, Budget Committees, and
attended Session Meetings. Documented joint meeting(s) with the Session
were held as required. Trustees also hosted the July 13 VBS Dinner.
Meetings were held the second Wednesday of each Month @ 5:30 pm. Minutes
recorded, approved and filed.

The Annual Financial Review and
modifications to the QuickBooks Software continues to be tweaked to provide
us better detail and accuracy. A new account was set up to handle the
Johnson Farm operations. The Trustees also approved of the written
guidelines for the Johnson Farm Management Committee. Our Trustee Wayne
Warren passed and Vice President Bob Exline took over his position. Our
Church Secretary, Donna Long resigned in July and new Secretary Annette
Krick was hired. We also approved the hiring of a new Choir Director.

Monthly Custodial Reports were reviewed,
action items completed and recorded

Our Church facilities as well as the
Manse are in constant need of upkeep. We had an estimate to paint some
areas of the Manse for $1,973.00. Work on the Church is always one of the
major responsibilities of the Trustees. Church repairs and inspections
(elevators, HVAC, Fire extinguishers, organ and piano) were documented.

In July we had a lot of discussion on the
outstanding Per Capita invoice of (see e-mail
version) from our Presbytery. The Trustees approved a payment of (see
e-mail version) to be paid this year and plans to budget and pay the
balance in 2018.

The budget for 2018 was developed by the
Budget Committee and approved by the Board of Trustees and Session, and
voted on affirmatively by the Congregation.

At the end of our year, Trustee Terry
Dietsch’ s 2nd term was up, and his duties were assigned to Randy Bear. Tim
Purmort volunteered to take another term as Trustee for 2018. We have only
4 Trustees for 2018.

The investment portfolio, managed by IAB
Wealth Management has continued to do well for our Memorial Endowment
Trust. We continue to look at other options that might be able to reduce
our investment fund fees and therefore increase the income from this account
to our general operations.

The Trustees also thank those not
mentioned above who have donated their time, talents and resources to the
maintenance and upkeep of the First Presbyterian Church of Van Wert. Our
meetings are open – we encourage attendance and participation.

The Committee reviewed and filled Pulpit
Supply needs as requested by Pastor Hal Shafer. The Worship Committee
approved and coordinated twelve Communion services in 2017. Monthly
liturgist schedules were also coordinated between the Worship Committee and
Session members.

The Worship Committee kept a working
worship calendar and discussed lectionary text, worship themes, special
music, order of service, bulletins, and other special worship needs for each
service. The committee planned and coordinated fifty-six worship services.
Special services included the New Year’s Day service in Scott Chapel, Boy
Scout Sunday, Ash Wednesday service in the Chapel, Palm Sunday, Maundy
Thursday Tenebrae Dinner Service in the Fellowship Hall, Mother’s Day,
Graduation Sunday, Father’s Day, Pentecost Sunday, 500th
Anniversary of Reformation Sunday and Celebratory Lunch, Thanksgiving
Sunday, Christ The King Sunday, Advent Sundays, Morning Christmas Eve
Devotional Service in Fellowship Hall, Christmas Eve Service in the
Sanctuary, and the New Year’s Eve service in the Chapel.

The Committee led the acquisition process
of new hymnals through third Sunday loose offering collections. These
hymnals were purchased in 2017 and were dedicated for use on March 5, 2017.
The Committee recommended that remaining 2017 third Sunday loose offering
collections be directed to the Audio Visual Committee to be used for
equipment upgrades.

The Worship Committee coordinated
flowers, palms, greenery, and other worship aides during worship services.
Fresh flowers were in place for the first Sunday of Lent. They remained in
place through the season as a reminder that we are to die to ourselves. They
were refreshed on Easter morning as a sign of resurrected life. Palms were
purchased and used for Palm Sunday, Special flowers at Easter, including
flowers used for the “Flowering of the Cross”. Carnations were acquired for
Mother’s Day to be distributed to each mother figure in attendance and Ice
Cream Certificates were purchased to be distributed to father figures on
Father’s Day. Volunteers coordinated and arranged seasonal harvest
decorations in the Sanctuary for Thanksgiving Sunday. The Committee
coordinated both the Hanging and Boxing of the Greens for Christmas.

Respectfully submitted,

Seth A. Baker

2017 DEACON

The Deacons of The First Presbyterian Church of Van Wert met
nine times in 2017. Throughout that time the temporal needs of the
congregation were met with forty-nine cards sent, communion set up each
month, six funeral dinners served, money given to a member in need, and to
hospice and The Presbyterian Relief Fund. In addition, items for the
kitchen were purchased, including a new cart, a microwave, two stools, new
knives, new candles and flowers for funeral dinners, and communion supplies.

Submitted by,

Douglas Parrish, President

2017 MISSION COMMITTEE

OUR DAILY BREAD SOUP KITCHEN MISSION,
Lima, Ohio

The Soup Kitchen serves free lunch meals
every weekday year around. During 2017 they served over 45,000 meals to
people from Lima and surrounding area. Funds for the facilities operations
costs of over $100,000 per year are provided entirely by donations of area
churches, individuals, businesses, and organizations. No government funding
or support of any kind is accepted. Our 2017 Mission Committee budget
included - see e-mail version.

Our monthly serving day is fourth
Wednesday of each month. During 2017 volunteers from our church have served
1,739 meals. Our congregation secured and donated 65 bags of clothing and
blankets, 14 bags of food items, plus personal hygiene items. Plus twice
during the year we cooked, shredded, and froze turkeys for the soup kitchen.

The Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen on
Central Ave in Lima continues as an outreach ministry of 50 churches in the
area surrounding Lima. The ministry feeds both body and spirit of people in
our area. A Scripture lesson, and prayer precede the serving of the meal.
The Director, Site Manager, and Head Cook are the only paid employees. All
the other cooks, servers, maintenance, clean up, are all volunteers. Some of
the volunteers have served daily for over 17 years. Servers for each meal
are volunteers from the supporting churches, youth groups, and community.

Generous special support made it possible
for much needed kitchen, dining room, and restroom, updating and remodeling.
Also during the year, the Soup Kitchen completed the additions of a larger,
secure, dry goods storage area, and a large commercial walk in refrigerator
and a walk in commercial freezer. Increased and regular donations of frozen,
dry, and fresh food supplies, has kept storage full. Money donations this
year have met the needs of operating the facilities. The clothing donation
room and racks have been remodeled and organized by age and gender. No
clothing donations are wanted at this time as the clothing supply exceeds
the need at this time, Other supply needs of the Our Daily Bread Soup
Kitchen include, personal hygiene items such as bath soap, tooth paste,
brushes, shampoo, feminine supplies and food items of noodles, rice, pasta,
cookies, coffee, and kitchen items such as aluminum foil, and paper towels.
As donated supplies received at the church office during the month they are
stored in the Missions closet in the basement and taken to the soup kitchen
on the 4th Wednesday serving day.

Fred Early, Missions Committee

VAN WERT SALVATION ARMY, WEDNESDAY,
COMMUNITY FREE MEAL

In February 2017, the Van Wert Salvation
Army began serving a community free noon meal every Wednesday. The meal is
prepared and served in their new facility located at 120 North Cherry St.,
Van Wert, 11:00AM – 12:30PM.

The beginning meal in February served 16
people. The weekly service has steadily increased over the months to 45 -50
people. We look forward to the number of people being served each week to
continue to increase. On our monthly serving day, “the 2nd
Wednesday of each month”, we have served a total of 421 meals.

Our Missions Committee agreed to provide
4 – 5 volunteer servers on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.
Helping the 3 volunteers who serve every week, on our day we help with final
meal prep, serving, dishwashing, and clean up. The time serving has proved
to be a fun time of fellowship as well as Christian service. It is a
wonderful opportunity to joyfully share Christian love with our hands and
spirit.

We are presently helping in the planning
of a project to remodel the dishwashing area, improving the disposal, sink,
dishwasher, and drying equipment placement. The objective is for the
project to be completed in March 2018.

The Van Wert Salvation Army Wednesday
noon community meal is a growing local mission that we are pleased to
support. Outside of the meal serving support our Church Mission Budget for
2017 included (see e-mail version) for the
Van Wert Salvation Army.

Fred Early

Missions Committee

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SCOUT
PROGRAM

“Your standing as a Scout does not
depend so much on the skills of your hands or the badges on your merit badge
sash, as in the spirit in your heart-on what you are willing to do for
others, on whether you are doing your very best to live the Scout Oath and
Scout Law.” - Boy Scout Handbook, 6th edition.

Our Cub Scout Pack 35 has been one of our
community youth outreach programs since 1939. Our Cub Scout program is a
Family oriented involving boys ages 7 -10 and their parents in activities,
practical skills and confidence, and character building experiences.

21 Cub Scouts, their families and leaders
enjoyed a fun filled, busy 2016 -2017 program year. Each month the cubs and
families were busy with educational fun family outings, weekly work on skill
badges, and character building projects. The Cub Pack leaders and parents
worked well together planning the program themes and activities well in
advance. Several Webelos Scouts completed the requirements for the Arrow of
Light Award and graduated into Boy Scout Troop 35. Tiger Cubs, Wolf’s, and
Bears completed their rank and badge requirements.

In addition to the weekly den meetings,
monthly Pack meetings, and family outings, highlight activities of the year
included:

During February Cubs and Leaders
participated in our Scout Sunday Worship Service. The annual Pinewood Derby
race was held with 26 cars competing and 80 people in attendance. Over 100
people attended the annual “Blue and Gold” Awards and Recognition Banquet.
Webelos Scouts who had completed the Arrow of Light Award crossed over into
Boy Scout Troop 35 in a special ceremony.

In March the cub scouts collected 75 bags
(622 food items) in the Scouting for food drive. A community service project
was helping the city parks dept prepare and conduct the annual kids Easter
Egg hunt.

In June, cubs and leaders marched in the
Peony Parade with the First Presbyterian Church Cub Scout Pack 35 float.

Our Boy Scout Troop 35 has been providing
character building, leadership experiences and training continuously since
1924. Troop 35 is one of the premier Scout Troops in Northwest Ohio.

Each month of the year contained a
purposeful weekend outing. After a busy winter and spring program, in June
the troop enjoyed a week of summer camp at Camp Lakota near Defiance, Ohio.
July found the troop white water rafting and wilderness camping in West
Virginia. Program themes on the outings included outdoor skills,
conservation, Ohio history, geology, personal fitness, leadership skills,
water sports, and service to others.

Scout Taylor Braun completed and was
presented the Eagle Scout Award in impressive Eagle Scout Courts of Honor.
Most of the scouts advanced a rank upon completion of badge and rank
requirements involving life skills, leadership skills, and service to
others.

The Scout Sunday worship service in
February was well attended with a full sanctuary of congregation and scout
families. We received many compliments of ‘well done” after the service
conducted by Rev. Shafer, scouts, and leaders.

Service projects worked for the church
included helping with spring yard cleanup of members of our congregation
needing help; Cleaning trash from 400 miles of county roads during April and
May. Work with the mission committee preparing for the yard sale weekend.
Cleaning the many outside church window wells, they collected 51 bags of
food (412 food items) during the Scouting for Food Drive in March. In the
fall they helped the Downtown Agency install Christmas decorations in the
city park. In November our Scouts and leaders participated with The Orchard
Tree Restaurant in a community service project raising (see e-mail version) with which they purchased Christmas presents for
kids listed on three area churches Angel Trees. Another community service
project was being “Red Kettle Bell Ringers” at the Chief Super Market for
the Salvation Army.

December 16th our Scouts and
others from Van Wert County troops participated in Van Wert’s annual
“Wreaths Across America” ceremonies held at Woodland Cemetery, placing
wreaths on the graves of veterans.

Our Boy Scout Troop meets every Tuesday
evening and enjoys a major outing activity each month.

Reported by Fred Early

Chartered Organization Representative

2017 MEMORIAL COMMITTEE

The Memorial Committee met quarterly and
is pleased to report good investment results for the year as follows:

Memorial Endowment began the year
with a market value of (see e-mail version) and ended the year with a market value of
(see e-mail version). Additionally, the fund was able to distribute
(see e-mail version) to the church general fund.

Johnson Scholarship began the year
with a market value of (see e-mail version) and ended the year with a market value of
(see e-mail version) . Additionally, (see e-mail version) was distributed to the church for scholarship use this year.

Wollenhaupt Scholarship began the
year with a market value of (see e-mail version) and ended the year with a market value of
(see e-mail version). Additionally, (see e-mail version) was distributed to the church for scholarship use this
year.

The committee continues to investigate
ways to maximize return without increasing risks to the funds.

(see e-mail version)

2017 AUDIO/VIDEO
COMMITTEE

The members of the
audio/video committee and operators are Dewaine Johnson, Ann Ayres, Roger
Neville, Chris Heizman, and Randy Baer. Special and continued recognition
is given to Jeff Dietsch, formal church member for rejoining as an operator
during health concerns of the chair during the spring. A big thank you goes
out to Chris Heizman for taking over the chair duties from April until the
end of July.

The committee met and
made arrangements for equipment repairs (blue handheld microphone) by
Sweetwater Sound. Supplies were also purchased as needed. The committee also
visited Sweetwater Sound in Fort Wayne, Indiana and discussed new sound
board options along with adding wireless microphones systems including costs
and models.

Audio and/or Video
Services were provided for but not limited to the following:

·Sunday
Morning Worship Services

·
Funeral; Wayne Warren; May 20th

·
Funeral; Alfred Vandersommen; September 23rd

·
Christmas Eve Service

The Audio/Video
Committee produced a DVD of each worship service, which was delivered by the
video operator for broadcast on cable channel 6. The service is first
broadcast on Thursday at 12:00 noon and repeated again the following Sunday
at 11:00 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. The Committee also saves the service on a DVD
recorder hard drive and DVD as a backup. The audio portion only is recorded
on a computer hard drive, which can be made into an audio CD. The channel 6
broadcast schedule can be found at:

http://hs.vanwertcougars.net/channel6/currentweek.pdf

Video on demand
streaming can be viewed by going to the church’s web site at:

I would like to thank
each committee member and operator for his or her dedicated work and
volunteering their time and talents in service to our church in God’s work.
The committee volunteered many hours in 2017.

The audio/video
committee welcomes anyone who has any interest to join us in volunteering
some of your time and talent to help us improve the audio/video experience
in the church. The committee would welcome an opportunity to train an
additional audio operator in 2018. For more information, contact Dewaine
Johnson at 419 238-3194 or dljohn@wcoil.com.

Respectfully
submitted,

Dewaine Johnson, A/V
Committee Chairperson

2017 COUNCIL OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

The committee consisted of eight
committee members for the year. Will Hawkins served as president of the
committee with other members filling in as secretary. CCE Director Felicia
Quaintance served as monitor for the committee.

The CCE Director requested a six week
leave of absence July 17, 2017 to September 11, 2017. She wanted time off
to plan her wedding in October.

On October 4, 2017, our CCE Director
resigned her position with the church.

CCE Programs and Activities:

Junior Church and Nursery:

Junior Church is provided during the
worship service for those children ages 4 through 5th grade.
Those children participate in the church service through the offertory, then
leave for a church lesson until the end of the service. Nursery is provided
for those 3 and younger to interact with each other.

JAM (Afterschool Youth Program)

Jam operated from January 18, 2017 to
April 12, 2017 with the theme “The Kings of Israel”. Attendance was
approximately 30-40 children, ages 4 through fifth grade.

The fall session of JAM was started on
September 20, 2017 but ended on October 11, 2017 due to the resignation of
our CCE Director and the need to redesign the program.

Easter Egg Hunt

A Easter Egg Hunt was set up for our
youth on Palm Sunday (April 2) for their enjoyment. There was also a
covered dish dinner on that Sunday.

Daddy/Daughter Dance

The Daddy/Daughter Dance was held on May
12 and 13, 2017. The dance was expanded to two evenings due to the
popularity of the activity. There were approximately 100 daughter/daddy
participants per night. The theme was Mickey and Minnie Mouse with
decorations. Food consisted of fruit trays, chocolate covered pretzels,
cookies provided by the church members, and punch. Pictures were taken of
each participant. Buggy rides were provided for the Saturday night dance.

High School Graduation Sunday

High School Graduation Sunday was May 21,
2017. Council of Christian Education provided Bibles with their named
engraved on them to each of the graduating Seniors.

Vacation Bible School

Vacation Bible School was held July 9
through July 13, 2017. There were approximately 25-30 children
participating during the week. The theme was “Barnyard Buddies”. The
program consisted of a game station, story station, and art station. Dinner
was served each evening, sponsored by one of our church groups. Trustees,
Council of Christian Education, Choir, Deacons, and Session provided yummy
food to all those participating. The last day of Bible School provided the
children the opportunity to get wet with a water slide, wading pools, water
balloons and water guns. They had lots of fun. The culminate the end of
Bible School, the children sang in the church service and the CCE Director
provided the message for the service. Following the service, a family
picnic was provided on the front lawn with grilled hamburgers, brats, and
hotdogs. A petting zoo was set up for the children to enjoy with sheep,
donkeys, camels, and a cow to pet.

Camp Clay Sponsorship

In working with the Mission Committee, it
was requested to help sponsor a day at Camp Clay. Mission would help
provide the funds for 100 children to swim and CCE would provide contact at
the event.

Nut and Candy Sale

The Council of Christian Education
provides selling nuts and candy to church members and their friends in the
fall. The sale provides funds to be used at the discretion of the
committee. It has been used for mission services in the past. The money at
this time has not been designated for use.

Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts

Both these programs are sponsored by the
First Presbyterian Church. Their activities are reported to the committee
each month by their church representative Fred Early.

The Council of Education provided
children bibles to those infants/children baptized in the church during the
school year.

Currently the Council of Education
Committee is not in operation. We are in the process of redesigning the job
description of the director, so until a new person is hired, leadership is
unavailable. The office of the director is being reorganized and materials
sorted. The plan is to have someone in this position on an interim basis
while we go through our church transformation process. The goal is to get
junior church reorganized, bible school planned, and curriculum and
materials organized.

Respectfully Submitted,

Christine Heizman, Session Representative
to CCE

2017 DAVID GLEASON FELL MEMORIAL FUND

This fund is administered by a special
committee set up as follows:

1 Representative
elected from and by the Session for two years

1 Representative
elected from and by the Trustees for two years

2
Representatives-at-large appointed by the Session for two years

1 Permanent
Representative for the Fell Family

The members of the Committee are:

Louis Crow, Chad Crosby,
Ed Conover, Robert Exline and Tom Wilkins.

The Fund is invested as follows:

Putnam Investors Fund
Inc.

Putnam Equity
Inc.

Putnam Multi Cap
Growth Fund
-----------------

Total
Investment (see e-mail version)

There were no requests submitted to the
Fell Fund Committee this year.